Bengals vs. Jets scouting report

Taylor Mays will begin his quest to earn the starting strong safety position.

TV: WKRC (Ch. 12) on tape delay at 11:35 pm.; NFL Network will televise the game live but because the game is not a sell out it will be blacked out in Cincinnati, Dayton and Lexington.

Radio: WLW-AM (700), WCKY-AM (1530), WEBN-FM (102.7).

Preseasons under Marvin Lewis: The Bengals are 18-19 over the past nine seasons, including 1-3 last year. They have not won a preseason opener since 2008 when they defeated Green Bay.

Series: Jets lead the preseason series 5-3 including a 27-7 victory at MetLife Stadium last year. The last time these two teams met for a preseason game in Cincinnati was 1995, when the Jets won 30-24.

FOUR DOWNS

Four things to watch in tonight's game

1 SORTING THE SECONDARY: Despite the run of injuries at corner, there will still be seven who are expected to see action. The biggest thing to watch though will be at safety. This will be the first big test for Taylor Mays to see if he can emerge as the starting strong safety but as offseason workouts and training camp have proved, expect to see Nate Clements and Leon Hall possibly playing some safety tonight too, but that is more likely to be in nickel packages. Hall will see his first game action since suffering his Achilles injury last Nov. 13 against the Steelers.

2 THE RECEIVERS DERBY: Armon Binns and Brandon Tate both did well in last Sunday's Mock Game but now they get to go against one of the more physical corner tandems in Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie. Andrew Hawkins has had a very good start to camp and could be the early favorite to be the slot receiver, while Jordan Shipley is still trying to work his way back from last year's knee injury. Rookies Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu have shown some flashes of potential in practice this week.

3 EYES ON ZEITLER: Right guard and first-round pick Kevin Zeitler has had to go up against Geno Atkins most days during camp. So much for easing a rookie into his first training camp. We should get a better indicator of Zeitler's progress tonight as the Jets run a 3-4, of which he will be seeing plenty since that is what the Steelers and Ravens use.

4 WHICH UNDRAFTED ROOKIE EMERGES? The two early favorites on who could make the 53-man roster are linebackers Emmanuel Lamur and Vontaze Burfict. Lamur continues to make a strong impression with his play at outside linebacker while Burfict has impressed coaches with his patience and how quickly he has learned the defense.

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Bengals vs. Jets scouting report

Jets lead the preseason series 5-3 including a 27-7 victory at MetLife Stadium last year. The last time these two teams met for a preseason game in Cincinnati was 1995, when the Jets won 30-24.